Temple Terrace adopts tougher code-enforcement citation framework to speed compliance

The City Council approved Ordinance 15-97 on second reading to expand the city’s civil-citation options and add a new class-4 violation category aimed at repeat and quickly recurring code infractions.

Code Compliance Director Jack Shanks told the council the update "is not intended to generate revenue" but instead "improve citywide adherence to codes that already exist and are already enforceable today." He explained the ordinance adds a definition for "itinerant or transient" activity, lists repeatable violations for prompt civil citation, and implements a supplemental escalation process (courtesy notice → notice of violation → final notice → citation) to address problems that recur after temporary correction.

Shanks presented one year of Municipal Code Enforcement Board data and said that applying civil citations to the targeted violations "would have removed 52 cases from the MCEB" over a 13-month span and encouraged faster compliance for neighbors affected by repeat violations. Councilmember Kravitz asked that the written escalation policy be circulated and posted; Shanks said staff will do so after the ordinance is adopted.

Councilmembers asked how the change would interact with forthcoming commercial-vehicle rule updates; Shanks said the enforcement numbers in the ordinance reference existing code sections and will apply regardless of future amendments to the substantive code. The ordinance passed on second reading with no recorded nays.

The council directed staff to publish the escalation policy for public review and to proceed with implementation under the revised code.